Sailing characteristics 33 cutter vs 330 cutter?

[Paul D.]

John,

Having never sailed on a 330 I am unable to be an authority on this. When I first considered getting Femme, I did hear somewhere on the early inter web that the 33 had more weather helm than one would like. I found that by learning the boat and not over trimming the main, she sailed just fine with an appropriate amount of weather helm until you got up to reef time. Tell tales on the leech also really help. I reef at about 15knots of wind and she sails just as fast, more upright and smoother than without a reef. This is with the rather baggy, original main sail. (Yeah, I'm that cheap.) I think a new, flatter main would almost balance out the helm on a beam reach.

After years of stitching up the old genny and never getting a good set as it was quite baggy, I got a new one and that really made a difference, especially for windward work. And it decreased the weather helm by about half. Less than one spoke of the wheel now when it pipes up and appropriately reefed. Just an amazing difference, and I was pretty darn happy.

I think the bowsprit on a 330 could contribute to rather less weather helm as you get the foretriangle forward, but it's only by a few inches and the yankee sail is smaller than a genny. You get a little more sail area on the 330 with the cutter rig, though some 33's were rigged as cutters. But the masthead sloop rig remains more efficient, and simple. Femme sails better than anticipated. I love taking sailors aboard who've never sailed a CD. They are always impressed, I believe genuinely of course, with the performance and 'feel' of the ride compared to a modern fin keeler. Femme points higher and keeps moving there too with the new genny. As an old Little Harbour owner once said to me, he always thought "the Alberg boats moved through the water better" than any others. Now, I would argue the S&S boats I've sailed compare well but that's another thread!

So while there may be a difference in sailing characteristics between the 33 and 330, the main factor IMHO would be the cutter vs sloop rig. And I think the difference would be slight.

Femme double reefed in about 27kts of WSW wind off Madeline Island, WI last year.